Willie Walsh today accused the UK of putting up a ‘closed’ sign as Portugal looked set to join the quarantine list leaving 75,000 tourists facing a scramble home as the cost of flights soared by 15 times.
The boss of British Airways parent company International Airlines Group accused the government of causing ‘further chaos and hardship’ for travellers based on ‘arbitrary’ statistics.
He wrote in The Times: ‘Another U-turn by the Government, adding Portugal to the quarantine list, will cause further chaos and hardship for travellers.
‘The Government is using arbitrary statistics to effectively ban 160 countries and in the process destroying the economy. The Government needs to introduce a testing regime to restore confidence.’
He added that the ‘ever-shifting list’ of countries requiring two weeks of quarantine means ‘the UK has officially hung up the ‘Closed’ sign’.
Ryanair flights from Portugal have rocketed to £302 today from £20 two weeks ago as up to 75,000 Britons faced having to rush back home with the holiday hotspot on the brink of being re-added to the UK quarantine list.
There were 21.1 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the country over the seven days to August 30 – up from 19.4 in the week to August 29.
A rate of 20 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period is the level ministers look at to trigger isolation rules.
Passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport in London today as Portugal looked set to be added onto the UK’s quarantine list
Beachgoers take a morning stroll at Praia da Ribeira in Portugal in August as cases continued to rise across the country
The cheapest Ryanair flight from Faro to London today currently costs £302 – an increase from around £20 two weeks ago
A price grid showing the cost of the cheapest Ryanair flights from Porto to London airports over the next few days
Prices from Lisbon to London airports peak at £302 today and tomorrow before dropping slightly later in the week
Flights from Faro to London are similarly expensive, costing £302 both today and Thursday. Customers can get lower prices by trying different airlines
The cheapest Ryanair flight from Lisbon to London airports was £302 today before dipping to £291 tomorrow and returning to £302 on Thursday. Flights from Porto and Faro tomorrow began at £332 and £291 respectively.
Prices for other airlines were also high, according to Google flight data, but far more affordable that with Ryanair, with the cheapest leaving Lisbon today offered by Iberia at £102.
London-based businessman Sergio Dionisio is predicting his expensive 11.40pm landing at Stansted on Friday will beat the new quarantine rules by 20 minutes.
‘I just managed to buy another 3 tickets to return to London on Friday arriving at 23.40 in Stansted avoiding the quarantine, I have been searching since Saturday and I only found 3 tickets today with Ryanair paying another £1250 for 3 of us and losing my Sunday tickets, just crazy.’ Mr Dionisio tweeted.
One holidaymaker said she was about to lose ‘the only thing I’ve been looking forward to this year,’ as rising figures look set for Portugal to return to the list – just over a week after the government said Brits could travel there safely.
Around 75,000 UK nationals are thought to be on holiday in Portugal or due to fly there imminently.
Many could face having to fly home early to beat a deadline before any quarantine restriction is imposed.
A clamp on travellers from Portugal would represent a further embarrassment for a Government which has been lambasted for its ‘shambolic’ marshalling of the travel sector during the pandemic. The quarantine rules are reviewed at the end of each week, but ministers have made clear they will act more quickly if necessary.
Searches for flights to Portugal soared after the country was removed from the UK’s quarantine list just over a week ago.
Passengers arriving in the UK from Portugal no longer had to self-isolate from 4am on Saturday August 22 after an approved travel corridor was confirmed.
The government today played down the prospect of routine coronavirus testing at airports – suggesting it would miss too many cases to be effective.
Britain’s ambassador to Portugal Chris Sainty said: ‘Travellers should consider their plans carefully and factor in the risks of travelling abroad in this fast-moving situation.
‘As Grant Shapps said, only travel if you are content to unexpectedly quarantine if required.’
Travellers heading to London from Lisbon today can get lower prices with other airlines, including IAG-owned Iberia
A list of the cheapest flights from Faro to London – starting at £130 with budget airline Wizz Air – which was one of the earliest carriers to restart its services after the height of the Covid crisis
When the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases hits 20 per 100,000 people over a seven-day period ministers consider triggering isolation rules. The total of 2,171 cases in Portugal over the past week gives a level of 21.1 per 100,000 population
Sergio Dionisio, Chief Executive Officer at Starplus Cleaning services, booked three Ryanair tickets for £1,250
Environment Secretary George Eustice said border controls were always kept under review, but warned that screening on arrival would not remove the risk of the disease being imported into the country.
The comments came amid fears that Portugal might be placed on the quarantine list again, after a spike in cases took it perilously close to the government’s threshold.
In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Eustice was asked whether it was time for the government to heed calls for widespread testing at airports as part of the UK’s response to the pandemic.
‘Obviously all of these things are always kept under review,’ he told Sky News.
‘The advice so far on testing on arrival at airports is that the likelihood of missing people who are maybe asymptomatic and therefore won’t show up on the test is quite high.
‘Somebody can pass negative to a test and therefore think they are okay and find a few days later they develop symptoms.’
The remarks followed concern that almost 200 passengers who were on a flight from the Greek island of Zante a week ago have now been told to self-isolate.
There are 16 cases of Covid-19 linked to people who took Tui flight 6215 to Cardiff on August 25.
London-based businessman Sergio Dionisio is predicting his expensive 11.40pm landing at Stansted on Friday will beat the new quarantine rules by 20 minutes.
Paul Charles, boss of travel consultancy PC Agency, said the figures for Portugal suggest it could be taken off the Foreign Office travel corridor list in days.
He added: ‘Portugal is likely to go back on the UK’s quarantine list this week and the country itself is now preparing a ‘state of contingency’ from September 15.
‘It has been unable to manage its caseload over the last two weeks as more tourists have entered Portugal, especially Lisbon and Porto.’
PC Agency, which publishes a daily tally of country infection rates, listed Portugal as an ‘amber’ nation, meaning it is approaching the UK threshold for quarantine with 19.4 virus cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day cumulative count – compared with 12.2 in Britain.
Brits preparing to head abroad have expressed their disappointment at the possibility of a cancelled holiday, with one person saying they were ‘done with 2020’.
Taking to Twitter, one user said it would be a ‘joke,’ if it was put back on the list, writing: ‘I hope I don’t need to cancel my holiday for the third time this year because of quarantine. Already lost money on previous cancellations.’
Another complained: ‘The only thing I’ve been looking forward to this year is Portugal and it was off the quarantine list and now it might be going back on!!! Sick and tired of everything.’
In late June, ministers began encouraging Britons to holiday abroad to boost the travel industry as restrictions were eased, only to warn within weeks that ‘no travel is risk-free.’
That followed a decision to introduce quarantine measures on arrivals from Spain with just five hours’ notice.
Mr Charles suggested yesterday that Portugal had been a ‘victim of its own success in attracting so many tourists rapidly’.
When Portugal was added to the travel corridor list on August 22 – meaning no need for holidaymakers to quarantine for 14 days upon their return to the UK – flight comparison site Skyscanner reported a 2,000 per cent increase in bookings.
Are you in Portugal worried about getting home? Send your stories to [email protected]
IAG chief executive Willie Walsh – pictured – has been scathing about the UK’s quarantine restrictions
Canary Island closes its beaches immediately after being hit by coronavirus second wave of at least 40 new cases
By Rita Sobot for MailOnline
A holiday island in the Canaries has had to shut down its beaches after being hit with a second wave of coronavirus.
El Hierro previously registered only a handful of cases and no deaths.
But a second wave of the virus has left at least 40 people infected – prompting local authorities to take urgent action.
Local president Alpidio Armas today announced new preventative measures which include, among others, the prohibition of using the bathing areas on the island.
El Hierro – a holiday island in the Canaries -has had to shut down its beaches after being hit with a second wave of coronavirus
He said: ‘Early intervention has been shown to be a fundamental tool to prevent the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus in El Hierro’.
‘In this sense, health protection measures have been issued, within each area of competence, in order to reduce and prevent risky contacts between citizens in relation to Covid-19.’
The island is the second smallest of the popular Canaries and attracts tourists looking for a more serene holiday in stunning surroundings.
Health chiefs are devastated that their good record has been hit and want to take decisive action to prevent a further spread.
The measures imposed immediately also include closure of public spaces; restriction of access to residences for the elderly; suspension of all kinds of cultural, social and sports activities organised by the island’s government and closure of libraries and educational centres.
Parks and markets have also been closed, as well as children’s play areas.
Island El Hierro (file image) previously registered only a handful of cases and no deaths
Mr Armas said the mayors of the three municipalities of Valverde, La Frontera and El Pinar had met to agree on the new regulations as a matter of urgency ‘in order to reduce and prevent risky contacts between citizens in relation to COVID-19.’
The El Hierro government team says it is in close contact with the Canary government because of the proximity of the planned reopening of schools on September 15.
The Canaries – having had a low incidence of coronavirus and deaths in the first wave – is currently seeing record level of diagnoses and both Lanzarote and Gran Canaria have warned of localised lockdowns if the level doesn’t drop.
Today, the archipelago added another 297 cases, bringing the total number to 7,106.
El Hierro has also called for security reinforcements and army personnel to help with disinfecting public areas.
Local president Alpidio Armas today announced new preventative measures which include, among others, the prohibition of using the bathing areas on the island (file image)
Gran Canaria has accumulated 3,702 cases of coronavirus – of which 2,899 are still active. This represents 68 per cent of the total active cases on the islands.
Tenerife has 2,380 cases of which 782 are still active.
Lanzarote has 429 active cases and an accumulated 551, Fuerteventura with a total of 277 of which 121 are still active.
La Palma has 141 cases and 22 are still active. El Hierro has 37 active cases out of a total of 40 and La Gomera has15 cases of which six are still active.
Canary president, Angel Victor Torres says the islands are doing all they can to head off more lockdowns, with the next ten to 14 days being crucial to see if extensive new regulations will dent the figures.